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Julie Andrews
Dame Julia Elizabeth "Julie" Andrews, DBE (née Wells; born 1 October 1935) is an English actress, singer, and author.1 Andrews, a child actress and singer, appeared on the West End in 1948 and made her Broadway debut in The Boy Friend (1954). She rose to prominence starring in Broadway musicals such as My Fair Lady (1956), playing Eliza Doolittle, and Camelot (1960), playing Queen Guinevere. In 1957, Andrews starred in the premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's written-for-television musical Cinderella, a live, network broadcast seen by over 100 million viewers. Andrews made her feature film debut in Mary Poppins (1964), and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the title role. She starred in The Sound of Music (1965), playing Maria von Trapp, and won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. Between 1964 and 1986, she starred in The Americanization of Emily (1964), Hawaii (1966), Torn Curtain (1966), Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Star! (1968), The Tamarind Seed (1974), 10 (1979), Victor/Victoria (1982), That's Life! (1986), and Duet for One (1986). In 2000, Andrews was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to the performing arts. In 2002, she was ranked #59 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. In 2003, she revisited her first Broadway success, this time as a stage director, with a revival of The Boy Friend. From 2001 to 2004, Andrews starred in The Princess Diaries (2001), The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004). From 2004 to 2010, she lent her voice to the Shrek animated films and Despicable Me (2010). Andrews has won an Academy Award, a BAFTA, five Golden Globes, three Grammys, two Emmys, the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, the Kennedy Center Honors Award, and the Disney Legends Award. Apart from her musical career, she is also an author of children's books and has published an autobiography, Home: A Memoir of My Early Years (2008). Early life Julia Elizabeth Wells2 was born on 1 October 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.34 Her mother, Barbara Ward Wells (née Morris) (1910–1984) was born in Chertsey5 and married Edward Charles "Ted" Wells (1908–1990), a teacher of metalwork and woodwork in 1932.6 However, Andrews was conceived as a result of an affair her mother had with a family friend believed to be Alfred Westmacott,7 a boat builder who designed the popular XOD sailboat. Andrews discovered her true parentage from her mother in 1950,78 although it was not publicly disclosed until her 2008 autobiography.9 With the outbreak of World War II, Barbara and Ted Wells went their separate ways and were soon divorced. They both remarried: Barbara to Ted Andrews, in 1943,10 and Ted Wells, in 1944,11 to Winifred Maud (Hyde) Birkhead, a war widow and former hairstylist working a lathe at a war work factory that employed them both in Hinchley Wood, Surrey.7812 Ted Wells assisted with evacuating children to Surrey during the Blitz, while Barbara joined Ted Andrews in entertaining the troops through the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). Andrews lived briefly with Ted Wells and her brother John13 in Surrey. In 1940, Ted Wells sent young Julia to live with her mother and stepfather, who, the elder Wells thought, would be better able to provide for his talented daughter's artistic training. According to her 2008 autobiography Home, while Julie had been used to calling Ted Andrews "Uncle Ted", her mother suggested it would be more appropriate to refer to her stepfather as "Pop", while her father remained "Dad" or "Daddy" to her. Julie disliked this change. The Andrews family was "very poor and we lived in a bad slum area of London," Andrews recalled, adding, "That was a very black period in my life." According to Andrews, her stepfather was violent and an alcoholic.9 Ted Andrews twice, while drunk, tried to get into bed with his stepdaughter, resulting in Andrews fitting a lock on her door.9 But, as the stage career of Ted and Barbara Andrews improved, they were able to afford to move to better surroundings, first to Beckenham and then, as the war ended, back to the Andrews' hometown of Hersham. The Andrews family took up residence at the Old Meuse, in West Grove, Hersham, a house (now demolished) where Andrews' maternal grandmother had served as a maid.8 Andrews' stepfather sponsored lessons for her, first at the Cone-Ripman School (now known commonly as ArtsEd), an independent arts educational school in London, then with concert soprano and voice instructor Madame Lilian Stiles-Allen. "She had an enormous influence on me", Andrews said of Stiles-Allen, adding, "She was my third mother – I've got more mothers and fathers than anyone in the world." In her memoir Julie Andrews – My Star Pupil, Stiles-Allen records: "The range, accuracy, and tone of Julie's voice amazed me ... she had possessed the rare gift of absolute pitch"14 (though Andrews herself refutes this in her 2008 autobiography Home).715 According to Andrews: "Madame was sure that I could do Mozart and Rossini, but, to be honest, I never was".16 Of her own voice, she says "I had a very pure, white, thin voice, a four-octave range – dogs would come for miles around."16 After Cone-Ripman School, Andrews continued her academic education at the nearby Woodbrook School, a local state school in Beckenham.17